How to send a vector document to a plotter/cutter from a native application?

Question

C++ / C#

Hello. It is necessary to extract vector documents from the database using your own application and send them for cutting in a plotter-cutter without giving the user access to the documents themselves. The user pressed the button, the cutter cut out what was needed. The application will be either in c# or in php. In general terms, what libraries or classes can help in interacting with the cutter? I usually printed using OS tools, I still haven’t held a cutter in my hands. Probably there should be differences in working with a cutter from working with a printer, because there you need to set various parameters, such as the depth of cut and the inclination of the angle? Or is it not the cdr itself that is sent to the cutter, but a certain file containing all the necessary settings? Where to dig, what to read? The plotter will not appear soon, but by the time it appears, I would like to at least fundamentally understand the logic of working with it.

Answer 1

Good day.
Cutters (most cheap ones) create a virtual com port when connected, to which you can easily send data. The protocol itself is https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPGL. You can even try sending commands through PuTTY.

Answer 2

Just sending a vector image will not work - you need to send a set of plotter commands.
It can be G-code, HPGL, something generally unique. See the documentation for the particular plotter for details.
The preparation of such data from the vector is done by CAM ( https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAM).

Answer 3

Yes thank you. I would not like to write my own module for converting vector files to the HPGL instruction set. Do cutters really not have a driver who would do this himself? Is there really no ready-made solution in the form of a library or class that would convert vector files into a set of HPGL commands? Theoretically, if I had to send only a couple of files to the plotter, then I could sniff the com port traffic when cutting from Corel and store it in the database these dumps, but it looks like a crutch, besides, there will be ~ 300 files at the initial stage, not 3, and their number will only grow.
In any case, thanks, the way to solve the problem has become much clearer.